Judith (Judy) McLean (Wilder)

Jack,

You must have lived close to Mary Lou Dollins (62 homecoming queen) she lived in that block on the south side of the street.  Cindy Carey lived on the corner of Front & Clayton I believe it was the northeast corner of 600 block.  Somewhere in the 500 or 600 block the twins Carolyn and Sherilyn Hirsch lived.  They spent alot of time in our block too.  I'm not exactly sure where Steve Jetton lived but know it was in the area maybe Clayton or Grove.  I lived at 708 E. Olive before we moved the two blocks to Front St. when I was 7yrs. old and lived there until I got married in 1966.  My mom lived there until 1997.  It was a great neighborhood to grow up in.  I remember we used to play "kick the can" with who knew how many kids until it got so dark we couldn't see each other.  We played kick ball in the street and had neighborhood circus's almost every summer.  If it was really hot we would have an all day Monoply game going on somebodies front porch.  Kids now days don't know how to have fun!! 

Jack Habich

Judy,

Jack Habich

Judy, which one, if any, would you like to delete?

Terry (Max) Maxwell

I got an e-mail from Jetton the other day telling me that he had recently come into a windfall and wondered if I wanted to go touring the vineyards in CA... all expenses paid.  Unfortunately, I had a prior commitment and had to tell him that I couldn't go along.  Jack, I'm thinking you'd better check the account balance to see if we are broke again!  :)

Jack Habich

Lol, Max, that guy will keep you up at night.  And he comes off like a minister nowadays.

Karen Sue (Suzi) Denton (Merritt)

Judy, you are right kids don't know what they are missing.  We use to play hid and seek till after dark.  Sometimes Susan McConnell, Susan Ford, Ronnie and Alan Maple and Jimmy Kelly would all come to my house and we would play monoply for hours.  As they say that was the good ole days!!

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

Wow, Mary Lou Dollins and the Hirsch twins.  Names from the past I knew, but had forgotten.  You're right Jack, Steve's uncle had a little store across from his house.  Remind me when we meet again.  I have a few great stories about his uncle.  We used to deliver groceries for him once in awhile.  I knew Terry Shoup the best I guess.  But one thing that really stands out about the Shoups, was every Holloween, they came up with some really great idea to experiment with.  Some of them would not go over too well with the local authorities in today's world, but back then, it was just all in fun.

Judith (Judy) McLean (Wilder)

Jack,

Sorry for the double response.  I thought I had accidentally deleted the first one so I tried to recreate it in the second one.  Just a sign of old age I guess!!!  I know very well where Jetton's grocery store was because I walked or rode by bike there all the time, but I didn't remember that Steve lived across the street from the store.  I now remember the house that you lived in on Front Street.  I used to be at Cindy Carey's house all the time. I don't get to that part of town very often anymore when I'm in Bloomington as both my brothers live on the other side of Vetern's Parkway now.  When I'm in town it's usually to visit with them. My old neighborhood has changed and of course the Wishing Well that was on Grove Street directly behind my house is now Schooners and their parking lot.  We used to share a burn barrel in the alley behind our house with the people who owned the Wishing Well.  It was just a small neighborhood tavern with great food back in the day.  There was a Piggly Wiggly on the corner of Grove and Clinton when I was small.  I think it may have become and Eisner's for awhile too before it closed.  Regina Martin's family owned a resterant of the corner of Robison and Grove and next to it was a flower shop. 

Rod,

Halloween in our neighborhood was always pretty wild with the Shoup boys around.  The local police used to make our block a regular pass on their nightly rounds. 

Helen Nicolaysen (Thompson)

JUDY.. JUDY.. JUDY.. (remember that saying)?!?!?  You WERE a hoot, and a bit onery too?!?!  Ya think?!?!?!

Jack Habich

The grocery store on the corner of Clinton and Grove mentioned by Judy was kind of an icon for me.  It was where I was first forced to speak English.

After the first day at the Schillingers, I had eaten them out of chocolate ice cream.  Josephine Schillinger rightfully determined that this was a good opportunity for me to learn English, going after something I liked.  She trained me over and over  to say "chocolate ice cream"....."chocolate ice cream"...gave me some stop light instructions "stop on red, go on green but look around"..gave me some cash and pointed me in the direction of the store.

I came home with ice cream, albeit Neopolitan, because they were out of chocolate.  Mission accomplished.

I always thought that it was an Eisner's store (1955), but maybe I thought so because it became one later, but I seem to remember Eisner's.

Jack Habich

Judy or anyone else who might know,

What was the name of that pinball place a little further north on Clinton, toward Steve Wilson's house?  East side of the street.  Eddy Chovanec ('62) introduced me to the place, it had a reputation as being marginally hoodlum, but of course, I was only peripherally involved. :)

Steve told me earlier this year, but I forgot, and keep forgetting.

Milan Jackson

 The Goldmine and Piggly Wiggly. It did become Eisner's like all the Piggly Wiggly's in our area did. But in 1955 it was already Eisners.

Milan Jackson

 Happy Birthday Paul Wade !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karen Sue (Suzi) Denton (Merritt)

When I was a kid my dad and I would get the grocerys at piggly wiggly.  He would always buy me a candy bar which back in the good ole days was a big deal.  My mom didn't drive so sometimes she would send me up to the store to get milk or bread.  I actually would go alone sometimes and sometimes Susan Ford or Susan McConnell would go with me but now you can't do that (too many prevs out there).

Karen Sue (Suzi) Denton (Merritt)

Helen,

Alan Haggard lived in the corner house until his parents got a divorce, than Flemings, than Sue Gresham, than the Browns and then the Flemings who owned the house.  They all lived at 2 Felton Pl, 4 Felton Place - me, 6 Felton Place - Maples, 8 Felton Place - McConnells, 11 Felton Place - Fords.  7 Felton Place was the Nortons.  Dave Norton married Peggy Dill.

Jack Habich

Thanks, Milan...deep in my mind I remembered the Eisner's because it was a German name, which happened to be my lingo at the time.

I bet I've been told "Gold Mine" 20 times, but have forgotten it as much.

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

Ya'll have brought back a lot of history for me.  My parents owned a two story apartment house at 818 E. Grove St..  Shortly after I was out of Oakland School, they sold the house and we moved into the lower part and rented the upper.  I spent some quality time at the Gold Mine.  I had many a meals at the Wishing Well.  Regina Martin lived right across the street, but I never really got to know her.  The flower shop was Hedricks.  When the grocery store closed, it became Van's.  They did upholstery work.  Mostly on cars.  The dad and his son ran the place.  The son was several years older than us.  They did roll, tuck, and pleat, button downs.  All the cool stuff back then.  And, they were really, really good.  Back in the late "70's" or early "80's" I had a "64" Corvette roadster and they put a new top on it.  Fantastic work.  It was a great car, but then it got sold and became a pool in Texas.  Chuck the Barber, aka, "Chopper" lived about two houses down from Van's.  Judy, do you remember when the huge fire happened just down the street.  Back in those days I spent a lot of time with Jetton, the Becker boys, Dave Uban, & Charlie Lanham.

Helen Nicolaysen (Thompson)

Hey Rod, was the last name of Van's really VanHook?  I believe we all went to school with Susie VanHook and am thinking her Dad may have owned an upholsery business?  I don't know for sure?  Anyway, that rang a bell to me!  

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

Helen,

I knew Suzie Van Hook.  She married one of the Darnall brothers, who owned Bloomington Gun, and still do if it's still there.  I bought a few pistols and shot guns, ammo, and gun supplies from them.  Her dad may have been in the Upholstery business, but I don't think Van's was his.  Van Hook Upholstery has been around B/N for quite some time and still is I think.  I think Van was the guys first name.  His son worked there and eventually took over.  I can't remember his name, but I think he may have went to BHS several years ahead of our class.

Judith (Judy) McLean (Wilder)

Rod,

Thanks for the name of the flower shop. It was really bugging me that I couldn't remember.  Did you live on the corner of Grove and Robinson?  Ron Smith Printing was behind your house?  I do remember that there was a big fire, was it at the lumber yard?  I remember the Ammonia tank at Praire Farms exploded and caused an accident on Washington Street.  I also remember the double murder on the corner of Clinton and Front Street.  That was before they did all this DNA stuff so the house wasn't roped off as a crime scene so of course Judy & Roger Shoup and I had to go down as see where it happened.  I remember the hammer he used to bash his ex-wife and her new boyfriends heads in and the pool of blood in the glider on the front porch.  They tore the house down a few years later.  Three or four of their children had been killed shortly before that in an automobile accident at Funks Grove. 

Those of you who remember Mrs. Raney the crossing guard at Clinton and Monroe for Jefferson School kids.  Mrs. Raney lived just a couple of houses from the Eisner's or Piggly Wiggly as it was first when I was just a little girl.  Joy Raney was her daughter she was just a year or two older than us.  She had an older son too but I can't remember his name right now.  He was even older than my brother Chuck I think. 

This is really fun having all these old memories come back.  It's funny what you forget until someone reminds you about something and then all of these other memories come drifting back. 

Milan Jackson

 Van's was Billy Van Dawson and his dad.

Joy lived on Monroe just east of Clinton. I don't remember her brother but Joy married Cary Franks from the class of 1962. He was in the band. 

Helen Nicolaysen (Thompson)

I'm thinking there was a Raney that was a police officer.  My husband was a dispatcher at the Bloomington Police Department when we got married and I believe he may had spoken of Officer Raney.  Is that any relation to the Crossing Guard?

I had forgotten about the Darnall's until it was mentioned. My folks use to boat with the Darnall's.  I'm thinking that was a large family, and yes I remember them owning the gun store.  Also, Cary Franks, Wow! Another one coming back to my mind.  You're right Judy, in that one memory sparks another rememberance.  How fun!

Jack Habich

Not only the band, but also the wrestling team for Cary Franks.

As Judy points out, it is strange what you remember when you get engaged in the process.  As I was thinking about my trip to Eisner's for chocolate ice cream, I actually remembered the guy in the store pointing at the chocolate portion of the Neopolitan on the carton.

There was another place in that neighborhood, at least in the 60's, that was life altering for me, and that was the Teamsters office.  I'm thinking it was near the flower shop on Grove.  Once I got hooked up there, my days of hard labor summer jobs was over.

Milan Jackson

The Teamster office was at 105 N. Clinton. That would have been on the east side of the street between Front and Washington.

Jack Habich

Milan, you're really messing with my mind on this one.  This would have been in 1967 or 1968.

I remember parking and walking into a small office on and east-west street, directly east of Clinton right by the flower shop etc.  The Teamster BA was not there, but his wife was the secretary/receptionist.  I really needed a not-easy-to-get Teamster card, and while I waited for well over an hour, I did my best Eddie Haskell on the wife.  Dejected because he never showed up, I went home.  Half hour later, I get a phone call  "My wife tells me you really need a job...come on in."  I go back, and he gives me both a Teamster membership (St. Louis) and a job with the State.  I walked out on air.

I remember the front, the glass and everything.  Maybe this was a temporary set-up while they were fixing up the place at 105 or something.  Do you have access to a 1967-8 phone book (of course if it was temporary it would still show the Clinton address)?